Best practices in accessibility and accommodations
Join the Office of Academic Affairs from 2:30-3:30 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 15, in 142 RSC, for a discussion of best practices in accessibility and accommodations in higher education.
Presenters are Eric M. Wilson, associate educator in the Elliott School of Communication and Trends in Higher Education Fellow, and John Jones, director of the WSU Media Resources Center.
They will provide insights and takeaways from Accessing Higher Ground, a national higher education accessibility conference that they attended in November 2019. Tips and strategies will be discussed that can be used for implementation right away as all make final preparations for spring semester classes.
Discussion topics include simple, easy-to-incorporate strategies you can use now to begin improving the accessibility of your courses, a look at how WSU’s ongoing accessibility efforts compare to those of peer institutions regionally and nationally, and the latest best practices and trends for accessibility and Universal Design.
Registration is requested by Monday, Jan. 13. An afternoon of desserts and refreshments will be served; please advise of any dietary restrictions.
Trends in Higher Education Fellow
Parking lot closures for further repairs to Cessna Stadium light poles today (Thursday, Jan 2) and Friday, Jan. 3
Please be advised that some additional permanent repairs, beyond those safeguards installed last spring, will be implemented for the tall field light poles on the east side of Cessna Stadium today (Thursday, Jan. 2) and Friday, Jan. 3, after the university reopens from the holidays.
The light poles are not coming down for these fixes, but insofar as the poles will have to be permanently bolted by crane lift, parking Lots 3N, 3S and 11, those lots between Cessna Stadium and Devlin Hall and on the north side of the east Cessna Stadium stands, will have to be closed to parking on Thursday, Jan. 2 and Friday, Jan. 3.
Depending on the conditions and progression of the work and safety of the area, there may be a possibility of some reopening of space in Lots 3N and 11, but that likelihood is remote.
We will do everything we can to expedite the work and restore safe conditions that will allow parking in the lots as soon as possible, but safety to pedestrians, drivers and property will dictate the reopening of those parking lots.
Fire Safety to test fire alarm horns and lights
In order to complete the annual fire alarm testing for all campus buildings, Fire Safety along with Sandifer Engineering will be sounding the fire alarms throughout the day today (Thursday, Jan. 2) and Friday, Jan. 3.
The alarms will sound for a significant period of time in order for inspectors to be able to walk the entire building to verify the audio and visual devices are working.
We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.
Women of WSU lunch with the women’s athletic coaches on Jan. 16
Join us for the first Women of Wichita State Luncheon of 2020 at 11:30 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 16, in 142 RSC 142.
The featured guest speakers are WSU’s Women’s Team Coaches in volleyball, basketball, softball, tennis and golf.
Lunch is $12 and includes a soup, salad and sandwich buffet.
Please RSVP by Friday, Jan. 10 at January luncheon.
Heating and cooling, personal space heaters, and sustainability
We need your help.
Facilities Services staff continue their work to ensure our campus is in compliance with Policy 11.27/HVAC Systems Standards, which went into effect on Dec. 10, 2018. Please review this policy here.
Based upon standards of the American Society of Heating, Refrigerating, and Air Conditioning Engineers (ASHRAE) and OSHA recommendations, Policy 11.27 aligns with the best practices used at many colleges and universities. Focused on energy efficiency and comfort, these standards recommend buildings, when occupied, be heated to 68 degrees in the winter, and cooled to 76 degrees in the summer. Studies have determined these temperatures are comfortable for most people who are dressed appropriately for the season.
Many universities suggest students, faculty and staff partner in sustainability efforts by dressing for the season and in layers to help moderate their own personal temperature. Others suggest keeping a blanket or throw at your desk for those particularly cold days. They also suggest considering how office furniture can be rearranged to provide faculty and staff with optimal heating and cooling comfort. (Facilities Services will help rearrange most offices at no charge.)
An important component of the HVAC Systems Standards policy states that space heaters are not allowed on our campus due to their excessive energy consumption, the safety hazards they can create, and their negative impact on the efficiency of HVAC systems. As winter is upon us, we are again asking that faculty and staff remove personal space heaters from our campus. WSU’s Space Heater Policy can be viewed here.
Regarding energy consumption, space heaters typically use more energy than your computer, lights, and all your office equipment combined. During the summer of 2014, Stanford’s Office of Sustainability conducted a plug load equipment inventory which revealed that there were approximately 1,000 space heaters on their campus, creating $150,000 of additional electrical cost annually. Given our approximately $6,000,000 annual utility costs, with just a 5% reduction in consumption we can achieve significant savings.
If you believe a learning or working space on our campus is too hot or cold, it is essential that a work order request be submitted here.
Upon receipt of the work order request, Facilities Services staff will respond and investigate in a timely manner. Should Facilities Services staff determine the space cannot be maintained in compliance with Policy 11.27, temporary use of space heaters will be approved by Facilities Services Fire and Safety staff while repairs are in progress.
Thank you for continuing to work with Facilities Services staff to ensure campuswide compliance with Policy 11.27/HVAC Systems Standards. As partners, we can enhance the success of WSU’s sustainability efforts by reducing our energy consumption, lowering our utility costs, and reducing our carbon footprint.
Website Usability Study - Participants needed
Participants age 18 and older who have experience using websites for renting apartments are needed to help evaluate the usability of a website. If you are interested, please take a few minutes to take the screening survey here.
If you qualify, you will be contacted to schedule a time to participate. This study takes place at the WSU main campus and lasts about 60-90 minutes. Participants in the study will earn $25 for their time.
Questions can be directed to Traci Hart at Traci.Hart@wichita.edu at 978-3812.
Meet a Shocker: Eduardo Castillo, communication grad
Eduardo Castillo won't let anything stop him from being successful. Even though having a speech impediment can make it more difficult to communicate, Eduardo has found a channel that best suits him. By telling his story through video, Eduardo feels like he can finally say what he wants to. Congratulations to Eduardo Castillo for being one of more than 1,100 students who were eligible to graduate last fall.
Tilford Symposium will be held on campus Feb. 27 and 28
The Tilford Symposium engages the WSU campus, private industry and nonprofit organizations to promote the legacy of equity, diversity and inclusion in our community.
The theme will be Education and Learning in a World of Differences.
Learner differences cross dimensions that are material (social class, geographical locale, and family), corporeal (age, race, sex and sexuality, physical and mental capacities) and symbolic (culture or ethnicity, language, gender, affinity, and persona). In this thematic area, we explore strategies for negotiating these differences, from the microdynamics of pedagogy to the agendas of curriculum, the nuances of assessment, the organizational structures of the educational institution and its relations with the communities it services.
We invite all faculty, staff, students, industry partners, and community members to be a part of these crucial conversations!
We built a Wu snowman!
The snow was falling steadily one day in December, but that didn't stop some of our students from going out to build a snowman (that was more or less in the image of our dear WuShock)!
Fall 2019 admissions summary
At the end of the fall semester, the admissions team took some time to reflect and celebrate successes. See some of the highlights below.
- Hosting more than 8,900 students, guests, and teachers / counselors at recruitment events for individual campus visits, or on a group visit
- Attending 298 college fairs and 410 high school and community college visits
- Processing 1,556 application fee waiver requests, 4,620 high school transcripts, 1,967 college transcripts, and 12,072 admissions applications
- Producing 14 videos, including a new Crash Course video, three Shock Docs, two Shocker Street Speaks, the annual Holiday Video, and more
- Hosting 268 high school counselors and community college advisors at unique events held on Wichita State’s campus or venue off-campus
- Increasing engagement on each social media platform
- 632 more followers on Instagram
- 441 more fans for the office Facebook page
- 320 more followers on Twitter
- Sending 65,439 text messages to prospective students
- Mailing more than 5,000 packets of WSU letters and promotional materials to high school counselors throughout the country
- Hosting 32 community college advisors from Johnson County CC and WSU Tech for luncheons, with additional luncheons at Hutch CC, Cowley, and Butler CC coming this spring
- Coordinating one new event in collaboration with the Career Development Center called Shocker Showcase, where prospective students interested in real estate were invited to NAI Martens, the largest commercial real estate firm in Kansas
- Adding 21,412 prospective student records to our recruitment database
- Incorporating the Recruitment Faculty Fellows into multiple admissions events, including Black & Yellow Days and Discover Wichita State
During the spring semester, the main focus of the admissions team adjusts to yielding the students who have applied for fall 2020, but still recruiting additional students and targeting juniors for fall 2021.
Wichita State student already working for NFL
Senior sport management student Natalie Dutton recently completed an internship with the Kansas City Chiefs and has driven to Kansas City to work all of their weekend home games.